People get say in policing their own neighbourhoods

COMMUNITIES are to be given a say in the policing of their own towns and neighbourhoods with the setting up of the first Joint Policing Committees (JPCs).

However, the membership of each committee will be top-heavy with politicians, with as many as 13 councillors and six TDs and senators involved, compared to just two garda officers and two or three representatives of the community and voluntary sector.

The first 22 committee locations were revealed yesterday in a joint announcement by Justice Minister Michael McDowell and Environment and Local Government Minister Dick Roche, who will co-fund the programme with an initial grant of €600,000.

The first JPCs will be established in conjunction with the city councils of Limerick, Waterford, Dublin and Galway, the county councils of Offaly, Wicklow and Fingal, borough councils of Drogheda and Sligo, and town councils of Mallow, Tralee, Tuam, Ballinasloe, Tullamore, Edenderry, Birr, Athy, Wicklow, Arklow, Bray, Greystones and Letterkenny.

The managers of each local authority will automatically be included and will appoint one or two of their senior officials to sit on the committees.

They are to operate from the autumn and be reviewed next summer with the intention of rolling out the programme nationally so that all 114 local authority areas have their own JPC. Proceedings can be reported by the local media and responsibilities will include:nMonitoring crime levels in the locality and examining patterns of activity involving alcohol and drug abuse, public order and anti-social behaviour.

*Advising the local authority and gardaí on what steps to take to tackle the problems.

*Hosting public meetings on issues of concern.

*Running community CCTV schemes.

Mr McDowell said issues likely to arise at the committees were street lighting, patrols in public spaces and open ground, local trouble spots, traffic problems, the provision of sports and leisure facilities for young people and the design of housing estates.

He said there was no implied criticism of the gardaí or suggestion they were not already listening to public representatives and community groups on the ground.

The JPCs were there to put a structure on the informal communications already going on.

Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said the committees would not change the way gardaí conducted criminal investigations. “If it’s a policing issue that’s raised, the police will take it away and deal with it,” he said. “It’s a forum about getting things done.”